Page 17 of Malice: The Mate Games (Apocalypse #3)

Chapter

Twelve

MALICE

“ G uys, I have a question,” Sin said as we made our way toward the back of the chateau.

“Of course you do. What else is new?” Chaos muttered.

“Curiosity is a good thing. Don’t try to make me hide my light under a bushel.”

“Go on, Sinclair. Ask your question,” I said.

Merri was sandwiched between me and Sin, her perfume more noticeable than usual. Perhaps it was because she was so close to me, or perhaps she spritzed more on than normal, but either way, her scent was delectable and, unfortunately, distracting.

“That obviously wasn’t the first video. Are there more? And if there are, how many? What do you think we missed?”

“That was three questions,” I pointed out, biting back a smile when Merri snorted a laugh.

“Fine. I have three questions. They’re still pertinent.”

Merri twisted her head his way and pressed a kiss to his arm. “Very pertinent,” she said, her voice soft enough I don’t think it traveled beyond the three of us.

“The video was clearly a call to arms. We can assume that any others that preceded the one Hades sent conveyed a similar message.” Chaos’s answer was delivered so matter of factly it left little room for argument.

“It’s so weird to hear you call him Hades,” Merri said.

“Why wouldn’t we call him Hades? That’s his name.”

“Should we call him Lord of the Underworld?” Sin added. “Henceforth and forevermore, I shall be called the Horseman Famine. Emphasis on the ‘The’.”

Merri smacked Sin on the arm. “Shut up, smartass. I meant because when we were at Blackwood together, his name was Cain. We had group therapy together a few times.”

I snorted. “I cannot picture Hades in therapy, let alone group therapy.”

“I can,” Sin said. “It’s hilarious. I bet he loved talking about his feelings.”

Merri made a soft, dissenting sound. “More like he was allergic to them.”

“Who among us,” I muttered.

“No wonder you two are buddies.”

Bristling, I stood a little straighter as Grim opened the door to the back garden for us. “I am not buddies with anyone.”

“Ouch,” Sin said, clutching his heart as we stepped over the threshold and into the storm. “O true apothecary. Thy drugs are quick.”

“Really? Shakespeare?” Grim said, his annoyance bleeding through the words.

Merri snickered. “It was hard to find the movie star beneath all the grunge of rockstar, but I see it now.”

“A rose by any other name...” Sin intoned, adopting a foppish stance, the wind and rain only making him appear more ridiculous.

“Okay, Romeo. You know that’s a tragedy and not a romance, right?”

“I write sins, not tragedies,” he said with a wink.

“Wow,” I said in disbelief, stopping dead in my tracks. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

“How does anything that comes out of his mouth surprise you after all these years?” Chaos asked after a loud clap of thunder.

“I keep thinking he’s hit the bottom of the barrel, and then he manages to outdo himself.”

Sin smiled so hard his dimples flashed, and I’d have sworn there was a twinkle on his front tooth. He could not look more pleased by my assessment. Which was completely in character for the self-obsessed playboy.

“There’s nowhere for me to go but up.”

“Oh my God,” Merri gasped.

“I know. He’s insuffera—” I stopped in my tracks, following Merri’s gaze to where Christian was slumped over against a tree, clearly unconscious.

“Is he dead?” Merri asked, eyes darting to Grim.

“No,” he said firmly, his shadow seeming to triple in size behind him. “He’s... not entirely connected to this plane at the moment, though. His soul is weak. Close to death.”

“What happened to him?” She attempted to rush to his side, but I snatched her wrist and tugged her until she crashed against my chest, her drenched hair slapping me as the long ponytail fell down her back.

“No. Don’t touch him. Not until we know it’s safe. This could be a well-laid trap.”

“Wouldn’t the wards have warned us?”

“Quiet,” Chaos snapped. His expression was fierce as he surveyed the scene, taking a few steps one way, inspecting some crushed leaves, standing and repeating his investigation a few feet in the opposite direction.

He paused beside the smoking generator, pointing to an area that had clear scorch marks.

“I think either he or it was struck by lightning.”

“He’s lucky to be alive.” Grim joined Chaos at the generator, sniffing the air near the marks. “It smells like ozone. The marks are still warm. I believe you’re correct, Chaos.”

Another clap of thunder boomed, lightning striking nearby and raising the hairs on the nape of my neck.

“We need to get him and Merri inside. It’s not safe out here,” Sin said.

Chaos stalked across to my fallen groundskeeper and made to pick him up, but Merri stopped him with a cry of protest.

“Careful! You can’t just throw him over your shoulder. He was electrocuted. He’s all but human and Grim said it himself, Christian is near death. Be gentle.”

Grumbling, Chaos gently readjusted Christian’s position, laying him on the wet ground before jerking his chin at Sinclair. “Help me. You get his feet, I’ll get his shoulders.”

Sin was clearly about to debate the issue.

“It has to be you. I’m going to look over the generator, and it can’t be Grim.”

“Unless you want me to accidentally help him along,” Grim offered. He never had forgiven Christian for assuming he was Merri’s father.

“Take Merri inside with you?” I asked Grim. “I won’t be a minute. She can’t stay out here and risk a lightning strike.”

“Come on, wildflower,” Grim said, offering her his elbow.

Merri gave the rest of us a worried look before acquiescing.

“We’ll go prepare a room for him,” Grim added, which seemed to bolster her willingness to leave the rest of us behind.

“Put him in the teal room. It’s already made up.” It took everything I had to look away from Merri as I approached the generator. We’d survive without it, but things would be infinitely more comfortable if I could get it up and running.

All I had to do was switch it on, and the house illuminated. That means Christian had been struck almost instantly when he got out here. How long had he been out there waiting for us to find him?

I winced, feeling uncharacteristically guilty.

I wasn’t used to being responsible for the well-being of others.

It was sort of the diametrical opposite of my existence, actually.

The realization immediately comforted me.

I could hardly be blamed for any shortcomings or mistakes I made.

It was all new to me. Besides, this was clearly an act of God.

Well, perhaps not God directly, but the elements.

And that wasn’t something that could be easily planned for.

“All set?” I asked, checking on Chaos and Sin’s progress.

They had Christian hoisted between them, his limp form and waxy pallor telling a very compelling story. He very well may not survive this injury.

“Follow me. The closest path to the teal room is up the servant’s staircase.”

Merri and Grim were ready for us, the bedding pulled down and the pillows carefully arranged.

There was also a spare bathrobe laid out on the bottom of the four-poster.

That level of thoughtfulness had Merri written all over it.

Grim would never care for such details. Not unless it was for her benefit.

“Merri, turn around. We need to get him out of his wet clothes,” I said.

“Allow me,” Grim offered, sending his shadows out to cloak Sin and Chaos as they stripped Christian and reclothed him in the robe.

In moments, Christian was settled in the bed, his clammy, pale skin reminiscent of many a plague I’d caused.

“Will he be okay?” Merri whispered, wringing her hands at the side of the bed. I could tell that she wanted to do something so she could feel like she was helping aid his recovery.

“Only time will tell,” I answered. “With an injury such as this, a comfortable place to sleep is all we can provide. He’s got to do the rest on his own. None of us can heal him, and there isn’t a functional hospital anywhere near.”

She stood over him, watching as he drew labored breaths.

“I hate that I can’t do anything for him.”

“We found him. Getting him inside and in bed is the best thing we can do.”

Merri shivered, her teeth chattering even though it wasn’t cold in the room. Fear that she was going into shock twisted inside me.

“Get yourself changed and into something warm, hellcat.”

“I’ll make us all something to drink and get a fire going in the morning room,” Chaos offered.

She nodded, walking numbly out of the bedroom and toward her own.

Once we were alone, Chaos asked the question I was sure each of us contemplated. “Foul play?”

Grim shook his head. “Not as far as I can ascertain. Seems to be a legitimate accident.”

Chaos frowned at the news.

“And that upsets you why, exactly?” Sin asked.

“Because it feels convenient and too much like a coincidence.”

“It’s just Christian,” Sin said.

“And it could have just as easily been Merri,” Chaos snapped.

That shut Sin up, and the four of us wandered wordlessly back down to the morning room.

Merri joined us a few minutes later, her hair still wet but now braided over her shoulder, body covered in a soft robe, feet covered in fluffy slippers.

“I checked on him. He’s still sleeping, but his breathing is better.”

“Good,” I said, and it was true. Christian had become quite an asset here. I didn’t want to lose him.

“Here, Red. Come sit and have a drink.” Chaos gestured to the spot beside him on the sofa.

Merri padded over, her expression distant as she flopped gracelessly into the seat Chaos had indicated.

“What a morning,” she groaned, accepting the glass he handed her.

Before taking a sip, she let out a humorless laugh and shook her head.

“I thought the biggest thing I’d do today was shut down my site.

But the apocalypse wanted to one-up me, I guess.

So it basically took out the western half of the US and then decided that wasn’t enough chaos?—”

War cleared his throat.

“Sorry,” she murmured, offering him a smile as she continued with her rant. “I already had a weird déjà vu moment with the guy on that video being in my dream a few nights ago, but then Christian almost dying? I don’t know how much more I can handle in a day. It’s not even lunchtime.”

“Wait, hang on a second,” Sin said. “I’m glad you brought that up. You said you saw Asher in your dream, that you recognized him. You knew some of the others he’s with, but you’ve never seen him before?”

She took a swallow of her drink, grimaced, and then shook her head. “Never. I thought he was just a weird figment of my imagination. I’ve made up plenty of people to hang out with while sleeping.”

Chaos’s free hand balled into a fist. “Another coincidence. Have I told you lately that I don’t believe in coincidences?”

“Why not?” Merri asked, grimacing again as she took another sip of her drink.

“Coincidences take a lot of planning.”

“He’s part of the resistance. There’s no way the connection isn’t part of something bigger.”

“According to Hades, we’re connected to him and everyone with him,” Grim reminded us.

“So you’re saying fate put him in my dream?” Merri asked.

Chaos shrugged. “Stranger things have happened. Who’s to say you wouldn’t find yourself in one of the key player’s dreams? Dreamwalking is rapidly becoming your forte.”

“It wasn’t that kind of dream,” she insisted.

“Even so. Maybe that’s how we’re supposed to find them. Especially now that the grid is down. We can’t exactly call Hades up and ask where they are. Maybe your dreams are what will lead us to them? Or them to us?”

She heaved a sigh. “How am I supposed to feed, find our allies, and get knocked up all in a night’s work?”

“Start taking naps?” Sin offered.

Merri gave him a droll look. “Maybe I should just ask Malice to put me in a coma, and then I can work around the clock.”

“I mean . . .”

Merri narrowed her eyes at Sin, effectively cutting him off.

Grim stood, his shadows spreading, betraying his frustration. “We cannot worry about finding them, not right now. We have a very specific task we need to focus on. If fate is at work, then we’ll be brought together when the time is right. Whether we want it or not.”

“So until then,” Merri started.

Grim met and held Merri’s stare, a bolt of lust bursting through the room and obliterating any lingering tension. “Until then, we stay the course.”

“And by stay the course, you mean . . .”

Grim’s lips twitched in what had to be his version of a playful smile. “I mean, we fuck our succubus.”